As protests over the police shooting of Sammy Yatim roiled outside police headquarters Tuesday, the chair of the police board said it would like increased powers to dismiss officers or suspend them without pay.

Alok Mukherjee’s comments came on a day when the families of several people killed by police spoke publicly about their frustration with the pace of change in law enforcement. More than 500 people joined a march to the College St. police headquarters where the Toronto Police Services Board was meeting.

Mukherjee said the Police Services Act can be too “rigid,” and the involvement of multiple agencies following a serious incident such as a police shooting can confound the service’s ability to deal with conduct issues swiftly.

“There are all kinds of constraining factors that cause frustration not just to the public, but to the board also,” Mukherjee said. “It is very, very hard to terminate a police officer . . . There are occasions where you say, ‘How in God’s name is this person working here?’”

Mukherjee read a prepared statement at the meeting expressing the board’s condolences, just before Yatim’s sister and mother arrived with several supporters and sat in the second row. As the board resumed regular business, Blair motioned the family out of the auditorium and brought them to his office.

“We’ll continue to talk as they need to talk,” Blair said. He said he has also advocated for the power to suspend officers without pay. Family friend Joseph Nazar, who was in the meeting with the family, said Blair expressed his condolences and said police were awaiting the results of the SIU investigation.

The families of people shot by police called for action rather than further reports.

“Sammy Yatim’s death was preventable. All our loved ones’ deaths were preventable,” said Karyn Greenwood-Graham, mother of Trevor Graham, shot and killed by police in Kitchener in 2007. “There’s been many, many reports that have come out about change … how many recommendations do we have to have come out of these inquests for the police to listen?”

In response to public criticism that nothing has been done to prevent another police shooting, Mukherjee said many recommendations have been implemented.

“The question is: Why have those changes not been effective? What more do you need to do?” he said. “We want to be able to prevent deaths … That means a cultural change with how we understand risk to be, how much of a focus we place on de-escalation, and the use of alternatives to lethal force.”

Mukherjee also announced the board would have its own legal representation at the upcoming combined inquest into the police shooting deaths of Reyal Jardine-Douglas, Sylvia Klibingaitis and Michael Eligon, all three thought to have been suffering mental health issues when they were killed. He said Yatim’s death has cast a “shadow” over that probe.

Normally, the police service and board are represented by the same lawyers at an inquest. Mukherjee said to his knowledge, this is the first time the board would be represented independently.

“It is an indication of the board’s determination to ask its own questions and pursue lines of inquiry that it wants to pursue,” Mukherjee said. “It gives the board more flexibility and scope to go in directions that it would not be possible to do when there was joint representation.”

Karyn Greenwood-Graham, mother of Trevor Graham

“For the police to be trained in a way to control, it's wrong. It's got to be a more human approach, it really does. Fight or flight response is very real and very human — and it's expected ... we cannot any longer accept the way people are gunned down while in crisis. I am calling to André Marin, our ombudsman for this province, to meet with the affected families of police homicide.”

Angie Assinewe, sister of Byron Debassige

“It re-traumatizes the families, it opens those wounds again, when we see another person who's shot and killed. The difference from our family is, ours wasn't caught on video. Since this one (Sammy Yatim’s death) was caught on video, it sparked that support — that people actually can see for themselves what's been going on.”

Ruth Schaefer, mother of Levi Schaeffer

“In trying to create change, I think we have to look at what's already been done. We have studies and reports gathering dust in places all over this country. We've paid probably millions of tax dollars to have those things done. All the recommendations that need to be put in place to safeguard the lives of Canadian citizens are sitting in print for anybody who's interested to implement those things.”

Jackie Christopher, mother of O'Brien Christopher-Reid

“It's not only the cops that are failing us — and I believe there are good cops out there, but there are some of them that are failing us — the justice system is failing us because they're allowing them to get away with it. I hope this is the last death this way, I hope the rally that's called today, I hope that all of this that's happening is going to have an impact on the justice system. I'm hoping that this is not just another show.”